Facebook's Analytics for Apps Goes Cross-Platform

Facebook announced a beta of its free Analytics for Apps tool that provides cross-platform functionality so developers can track metrics across iOS, Android and Web all in one place.

The company said the functionality was added because instead of focusing on devices, it's thinking about people, who, according to research, usually use multiple devices to complete a task (when they own multiple devices).

The ability to track metrics across different platforms instead of individually is just one of several enhancements to the tool, which was introduced at last year's F8 conference and beefed up earlier this year with "push notifications and deeper insights."

"We've made it as easy for businesses to view cross-platform metrics for their websites and apps," Facebook's Josh Twist said in a blog post yesterday. "Millions of businesses already embed our JavaScript SDK for Facebook Login, sharing and more, and we're excited to extend this SDK to support Facebook App Events. These app events are identical to those you use in your native mobile app, providing a seamless cross-platform measurement experience. You'll be able to grow your business by having a unified view of all of the activity across your app and website."

Those App Events include typical user interactions of interest to developers and app publishers, such as a content view, a search, adding an item to a cart on an e-commerce app and so on.

Other new functionality comes with the introduction of "user properties," a beta feature that provides integrated online/offline customer data, and "sharing insights," which can predict if content will go viral.

Twist said the user properties feature "lets you integrate online and offline customer data, including information from your customer relationship management (CRM) system and profile data from your mobile app. This allows you to filter your reports based on the key segments of information that are important to you.

"For instance, once you integrate your CRM data, you'll be able to filter customer activity based on the characteristics of people who have a certain status in your system, such as those people who are in your 'gold-tier' loyalty program or for people who were acquired via different ad networks. This helps you understand the lifetime value of your acquisition strategy."

Twist said Web devs and businesses that already use the company's Facebook Pixel mechanism to track Web-based advertising campaign performance can now receive Analytics for Apps data automatically without having to do anything besides choosing it from the analytics dashboard, though historical data isn't yet available.

Since its launch, the company said, more than 800,000 apps have used its analytics tooling, which doesn't require the use of Facebook Login or other company products.

Developers wanting to learn more are advised to consult the company's quickstart guide for the new analytics functionality.